We're getting married!

Some of you may have come to this website a little confused. Is Sam dating someone?? What is going on?! I know, it's crazy to us too. But not really because we really like each other and kind of feel like God made it happen, so here is our story - I first noticed Sam at church a while ago...maybe like 2022 or 2023. He was around our age and seemed reasonably normal, but never came to any of the events or joined any small groups. I did ask my frastor (friend/pastor) Katie if there was anything up with him, and she just said that he was in his residency at Sparrow and crazy busy. It was at that moment that I was determined to....fix him up with someone! Who wouldn't want a sweet, tall, shy, doctor. My fixing up obviously was going nowhere, whether it was my lack of skill or Sam's obliviousness to the suitors. So while I would yell at him from across the church to come talk to us, he was thinking that I was kinda cute. I noticed him starting to get nervous and that was very fun to me. Apparently one day in the summer of 2023, I was making breakfast at the church, and I had called him over to give him pancakes and peanut butter to supplement his breakfast of one single banana. After that I noticed him act giddy and smiley and chatty every time we interacted. I was a bit nervous because I would have never considered dating someone who was super shy and pretty sheltered. As the complete opposite I figured I would scare him to the high heavens. Fortunately, he was very brave and stuck around. I asked him out on a date (he would not consider this a date) and we talked for 6 hours. Then I suggested another, and he opened my door for me but also pretended it wasn't a date. When he finally told me that he liked me, I had told him we had already been dating for 2 weeks, so yeah obviously I liked him too. I'm not too into the mushy stuff but Sam makes up for that by being the mushiest. An all denim photo shoot, trip to Mackinac, adventures with our friends and families around MI and a proposal later, we are engaged! So excited to celebrate with y'all in March to continue to our adventures together!

I believe God and Crossroads Church gave rise to this romance. Through serendipitous steps, our paths crossed, a whirlwind of adventures ensued, and now, she is the one I want to marry. It had started with moving back to Lansing, MI, for family medicine residency, following my graduation from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2021. I started going back to my church in Lansing, Crossroads Church. In the blur of busyness of residency, the Crossroads Church community was always an anchor to my faith and social and spiritual support. While I was very focused on medical training for much of the time after I started residency in 2021, I slowly started to engage more with my church community. I was always hoping I might find a partner for life through my community of faith, and in 2023, these prayers were answered. I was mostly someone who sat in the back of church and didn’t really talk much, but that all changed in the summer of 2023. I took notice of Kristina while she was working breakfast hospitality, when I came in for church hungry and a little late for breakfast, donning a moustache and looking like a bit of a stranger. I was received kindly by Kristina, and although I had only a banana to eat with me, she offered to make it complete with a pancake and peanut butter. That interaction with her that day gave rise to a huge crush, unlike one I had ever experienced, and which I apparently didn’t keep well-contained (as I came to later find out from Kristina). I sought out more opportunities to spend time with her and be around her after that. I became friends with her on Facebook later that year and the crush started growing. After befriending her on Facebook, I couldn’t help but wonder if she was dating anybody, but I didn’t want to be too forward. I held onto that crush a long time, and I was looking for ways to become good friends with her before disclosing my feelings, so I signed up for the kitchen team at church just to spend time with her, which is probably the last ministry that I should be called to at Crossroads. I had noticed Kristina paying special attention to me and enjoyed it, not knowing this whole time she was trying to play match-maker. When February came around in 2024, I looked for an opportunity to start hanging out with her outside of church, and I wanted to eventually find the courage to ask her out on a date. It turns out that what I thought was just getting together with a friend (for whom I had a crush) was already being interpreted as dating by Kristina, and so our relationship began. I had never dated anyone before, besides a date that was set up by a friend and didn’t last very long, so I knew I might struggle, but I was certain that I had found someone very special in Kristina, and she has demonstrated this time and again to me. Through many journeys over the past year, our love has blossomed into something very special, and I am looking forward to many adventures to come as we enter into marriage. Although we are quite different personalities, I find that we complement each other, much like peanut butter pancakes and bananas. I am so excited to have you join us!